I'm Back in the Band?
by Alyssa Tolensky
Summary: The guys leave Derek at a club forcing Derek to take a cab home. But when the man driving the cab is someone Derek didn't really want to run into, what will happen to Derek? More importantly, what will happen to the band?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Nothing from "I'm in the Band" belongs to me. It's merely inspired.**

It was raining on the cold city streets. Derek Jupiter was still inside the club that they had just played at. He splashed water on his face in the bathroom sink and sighed. He looked up at his reflection in the slightly dirty mirror and smiled at himself smugly.

"Hello, handsome." He joked, flipping his long wavy brown hair. He turned and left the dirty bathroom. He looked around the empty club and his bright smile quickly faded. The guys said that they would wait there for him to come back. He looked around and slowly journeyed through the club.

"Guys?" Derek called. "Guys, you here?" No response. "Okay, very funny. You got me, now come on out." He tried to psych himself into thinking that the guys were just playing a joke on him. "Great." Derek mumbled. He briskly walked out the back door to check to see if the band van was in the parking lot. No sign of it. Then a thought struck him. Maybe they were in the front. He quickly took a look around the front. Nope. There was no sign of the purple snakeskin van anywhere.

They left him at the club alone just like they did back in high school, back when they were still "Derek Jupiter and the Other Guys". Derek sighed irritated and searched his pockets for his cell phone. His eyes widened in realization that his phone was still in the band van on the charger. He threw his hands up and walked over to the pay phone and figured if he called the house phone, he could get Beth to come and get him.

He pulled out a quarter from his pocket and inserted it into the machine. He clicked the dial buttons and waited. Ring one. Pause. Ring Two. Pause.

"Oh, come on." Derek mumbled.

Ring Three. "Hello, you have called the Campbell house. We're sorry we missed your call-" Derek hung up before Beth's voice could finish the message. Derek covered his face with his hand in frustration.

'I guess I'm taking a cab then.' He thought to himself as he dialed the number. Ring one. Click!

"Los Angeles Taxi Service." A gruff voice answered on the other end.

"Uh, yes, hi. Could I get a cab at the corner of 57th and Cherry, please?" Derek asked, his eyes wandering around as he stood there.

"One minute." The voice responded. There was a pause as shuffling and inaudible yelling could heard on the other end. "Alright, we'll have one over there in about ten minutes."

"Thank you." Derek replied hanging up the phone. He sighed. He walked over to the bar and sat down. He looked over at the bartender. "Excuse me, could I get a pint of bitter?" Derek asked. The tattoo covered bartender gave him a strange look.

"A what?" he asked coldly.

"A pint of bitter?" Derek asked a little louder in case the punk hadn't heard him the first time.

"A what?" he asked again. Derek rolled his eyes.

"Just…get me a beer." He surrendered. It wasn't the ale that he craved, but he knew next to nothing about American beer. The guy sneered at him as he pulled out a clean glass and held it under the tap as the yellow frothy beverage filled the glass. He set it in front of Derek and walked away. Derek took a sip. It was definetly not the ale he wanted, but it'll give him something to do while he waited. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head.

"Excuse me, would you mind if I borrowed your cell phone?" Derek asked. The bartender went back to cleaning the bar top and remaining glasses ignoring his question. Derek opened his mouth to ask him again, but decided not to. He already had a cab coming and the punk wasn't going to lend him his cell phone. He took another drink and sighed. He shook his head and just sat there, letting his mind wander.

He thought back on the first time that the guys had ditched him. It was the same situation. Derek ran to the bathroom really quick, but when he came back out they were gone. They had no reason to just leave him there. However, he though back on another time in the 80's before they had actually gotten a record deal. Derek went on a trip with his mum back to London to visit his grandparents. While he was there, he discovered the fantastic look of glam rock and tried to bring it back to the states. It didn't take too well. Guess the metal rock world wasn't ready for bright shiny colors, glitter paint, and lipstick. When the guys left him alone after _that_ gig, it became clear to Derek that he was no David Bowie.

Derek chuckled to himself at the memory. The guys had a very good reason for ditching me in my sparkly pink top and yellow star painted on my face. 'What a poser.' Derek thought chuckling.

Finally, he saw the cab pull up outside the club. He paid for his drink and got out of there and into the rain. He quickly climbed into the cab to avoid getting too wet. He slammed the car door and got comfortable. He sighed.

"1040 North Las Palmas Avenue, please." Derek said leaning back in his seat. The driver glanced up at his passenger in the rear view mirror and smirked. He said nothing and started to drive to Derek's designated location. After awhile, Derek started to feel uncomfortable with the dead silence. The radio wasn't even on.

"So, by your silence I'm sure you know who I am and are too star struck to speak, huh?" Derek quipped from the back.

"Eh." The driver replied unenthusiastically.

"Eh?" Derek asked irritated. "Don't you know who I am? I am Derek Jupiter! Lead singer of the greatest rock band of all time, Iron Weasel and you shall show me respect!" Derek proclaimed. The driver chuckled.

"Yeah?" The driver said. "That's funny. I was in a band called 'Iron Weasel' once." The driver responded. Derek knew that voice all too well.

"Bleed?" Derek asked getting a look at the long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Still got the huge ego, I see." Bleed said with a smirk.

"What the—" Derek started to panic. "Is this a rape trap? It is, isn't? You're taking me to a warehouse and making me suffer to never let me go home, is that it?"

"What? No." Bleed replied in a disgusted tone. "This is my job. I simply take people from point "A" to point "B"." he explained. "I had no clue that I was taking _you_ home this evening."

Derek let out a sigh of relief and glanced out the window at the passing streetlights of the freeway.

"So, how's the band?" Bleed asked breaking the silence. It was almost starting to annoy Derek that Bleed _wasn't_ using his fake British accent any more.

"It's going great. We recently signed with Simon Craig." Derek replied.

"That's great." Bleed replied sounding disappointed. If all had gone according to plan and he had gotten rid of Tripp, _he'd _be the one with the record deal with his pals. It became quiet again. Bleed cleared his throat.

"Why did you do it, Bleed?" Derek asked.

"What's that?" Bleed asked looking at Derek in the rear view.

"Why did you steal our money?" Derek asked. "When we all had to sell our stuff to make ends meet, you kept your yacht and stole from us to buy a helicopter. I want to know why!" he demanded. Bleed smirked.

"Oh what, and kill all subtext?" Bleed replied with a laugh. "Here I am already knocking on the fourth wall…" he mumbled. Derek didn't say anything and glared at Bleed to try to get an answer. "Okay, fine! Look, our band was going down. The 80's and 90's thing, it was dying fast. I figured…it was going to become an everyman for himself situation. I didn't know what else to do." He explained. "I was…" he sighed. "I was scared."

"Bleed, it was _never_ going to become an everyman for himself thing." Derek assured. "It was all for one and one for all. We were a family and we were always going to be there for each other."

"…Sure, Derek." Bleed said sarcastically. "Look, I've been through too much and learned that you can never trust anyone! You can only count on yourself and your own diligence."

"…I trusted _you_ once. Heck, we all did." Derek replied. "You were more than a guitarist or just our friend, you were like our brother. And...you know what you were to me." Derek shook his head. "It's a shame learning that you never trusted in any of us."

The car ride became dead quiet. Derek kept his gaze out the window and watched as the looming shadows of trees zoomed by. Derek no longer felt sorry for himself when Bleed broke his heart and left the band. Now he just felt sorry for Bleed and his distrust towards the world.

"What have you been through to distrust everyone?" Derek asked just above a whisper. He wanted to know what it was. Bleed shook his head and said nothing. "Please." Derek said. Bleed sighed.

"Derek…just know that…it was just my family that made me this way." Bleed replied. "Throughout my early childhood, I tried being some happy go lucky kid without a care in the world, but…my dad…convinced me that I made no difference in the world. No one wanted me, so…I just stopped trying to impress people or conform to their rules and expectations. I just turned into a child born of anarchy and chaos." Bleed said leaning his head onto his hand as his elbow rested by the window.

"Bleed…I didn't know." Derek said.

"I didn't _want_ you to know. I didn't want _anyone_ to know." Bleed said lifting his head off his hand. "I didn't want to become some pity party. I can take care of myself!" Bleed shrugged. "Sure I don't make much money in this job and sure I don't get to play guitar as much as I would like, but the point is, I'm taking care of myself, by myself."

It was silent once more as Derek started thinking. He didn't like seeing Bleed miserable, although the mishaps that he put him through deserved to be met with karma. Derek sighed.

"Bleed, why don't you come back to Iron Weasel?" Derek asked. Bleed smiled.

"Really? You mean it?" Bleed asked excitedly.

"Yes, but only after the lads and I come up with a contract stating that if you steal from us or cheat our band, you will be fined and immediately thrown out the band for good!" Derek stated firmly.

"Well, of course! Can I play guitar?" Bleed asked. Derek shook his head.

"You can tune Tripp's guitar and be our roadie. If you eventually earn our trust, we may let you play rhythm guitar every now and then."

"I guess it's better than nothing! I just hate driving this stupid cab!" Bleed said almost on the brink of tears. "You don't know how happy I am about this, Derek!"

'I just hope that the other guys will be alright with this...' Derek thought to himself.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. Review! Should I make a second or third chapter?**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from "I'm in the Band".**

Derek pulled out some cash from his pocket to pay Bleed for the cab ride. Bleed took the cash and counted it quickly. He smiled and reset the meter.

"So…you're gonna talk to the guys tonight, right? About me coming back?" Bleed asked. Derek was still unsure of how the guys would take it. He wanted to say, 'No, haha. Yeah right.' And point and laugh at him, but a part of Derek really did want Bleed back.

"Of course." Derek replied giving him a weak smile. Derek climbed out of the car, shut the door and started to walk up to the house. Suddenly, the cab honked. Derek jumped with a start, whipped around and glared at Bleed. "What?" he yelled. Bleed stuck his head out the car window.

"Come here! I forgot something!" he called. Derek sighed an irritated sigh. What could he possibly want? Derek quickly rushed back to the cab. He just wanted to get inside and out of the cold.

"What?" Derek asked. Bleed gave him a soft smile, a smile that Derek hadn't seen in over ten years.

"Thanks." He said. "Oh, by the way, do you want to know a secret?" Bleed asked. Derek gave him a quizzical look.

"What?"

"Do you promise not to tell?" Bleed asked with a cheery tone.

"Look, Bleed, don't quote the Beatles to me." Derek replied giving a chuckle. Bleed had always made it a habit of quoting songs when he was in a good mood. Bleed motioned for him to get closer. Derek leaned forward. Bleed slowly and gently took Derek's face in his hand.

"I missed you." Bleed whispered. Derek closed his eyes and leaned forward and met his lips in a soft kiss. Derek smiled. It was just how he remembered the last time the two of them shared a kiss like that. His lips were warm and soft and tasted of mint gum. The kiss lasted a moment before Derek quickly pulled away.

"Well, uh, goodnight!" Derek said taking off towards the house. His face was red. Bleed shook his head with a smirk and slowly pulled out the driveway and took off down the street. Derek lifted up the doormat and pulled out the small gold key. His hands were shaking giving him a bit trouble holding onto the key. He fumbled around until he managed to put it into the lock and turn it, granting him entrance to the house.

"I can't believe I did that. And of all people to lock lips with-" Derek was saying to himself.

"Lock lips with who?" Tripp asked looking over his shoulder at Derek as he sat on the couch. It was then that Derek noticed that the guys were still up.

"Dude! We gotchya again!" Burger laughed. "Just like old times!"

"Hey! We're not that old!" Ash protested. "Give us some credit, bro. We still look young."

"I do, anyway." Derek replied smugly as he took a seat on one of the chairs. The guys laughed. The laughter soon died as they got back to watching tv.

"So, Derek," Tripp spoke up, "who did you lock lips with?"

"Hm, what?" Derek looked over trying not to seem guilty.

"When you walked in you said you couldn't believe you locked lips with someone. Who was it?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, no-one. It was no-one. You wouldn't know 'em." Derek said with a smile. "So, what are we watching?" he said quickly trying to change the subject. Tripp turned off the tv making everyone gasp. The guys looked at Tripp.

"Tell me who it was. If it's no-one that you shouldn't have a problem telling us." Tripp argued. The guys looked back to Derek.

"Dude, just tell us so we can go back to watching tv." Burger complained.

"Yeah, man, I'm missing the best part!" Ash yelled.

"Ash, they were in the middle of a soap commercial." Tripp said.

"What's wrong with watching soap be lathered onto woman's supple skin?" Ash asked.

"That was a dude."

"Ohh…" Ash said in realization. Tripp shook his head.

"So, tell us." Tripp said. Derek tried to remain composed. He stood up and sighed.

"Well," he began, "it's uh…someone we know." The guys nodded. "Someone…who was important to us in the past." The guys nodded again. "He just recently came back, tried to get rid of the kid and now he wants to join the band again as our roadie. Can we watch tv now?" Derek said fast as he sat back down smiling. Tripp stood up.

"So you mean to tell me that it was…"

"Bleed!" Tripp and Burger yelled as Ash yelled,

"Abraham Lincoln!" The guys looked at Ash.

"Abraham Lincoln?" Tripp asked.

"Well, sure. He was important to us in the past. He introduced the top hat into the fashion world and became the first man to walk on the moon." Ash explained. Tripp looked at him in disbelief. "What? Space _is_ the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship, Apollo 11. It's five year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations. To boldy go where no man has gone before!" Ash stated triumphantly before singing the high pitched Star Trek theme.

"Ash! That's Star Trek!" Tripp yelled. "And Abraham Lincoln had nothing to do with the Apollo mission!"

"Are you sure?" Ash asked skeptically.

"We're getting away from the point!" Tripp yelled. "Derek, why did you kiss Bleed? And what's all this about letting him back in the band?"

"Look, I told him that he could be our roadie and we could organize a contract that if violated he-" Derek tried to explain.

"He could sabotage us!" Tripp reminded. The guys agreed in unison.

"Guys, he opened his heart to me." Derek said. "He's stuck driving smelly cabs for a living! What kind of people are we to make a true rocker make that his new occupation?"

"Um, the smart people who know that the 'true rocker' is a two-faced backstabber!" Tripp replied. Tripp shook his head. "I'm going to bed." Tripp said as he headed towards the hallway. "Bleed is not joining the band. Discussion over." Tripp said marching off. The guys looked at each other and sat down on the couch.

"Guys, I'm serious." Derek said. "I want him to come back."

"What about all that stuff he's put you through?" Burger asked.

"I don't want to watch you cry any more, Derek." Ash responded. Derek sighed.

"I know. I know, but honestly, it's not his fault he's this way! He's not a bad person, he just got scared when our band was failing. He thought we were going to be like everyone else and turn our backs on him. But now that we're making our comeback and we're getting more successful, I think we can make this work." Derek said confidently.

Burger and Ash looked at each other and back to Derek.

"Well, we're okay with Bleed coming back it you are." Burger said.

"You're the closest to him, bro." Ash said getting up. "If you think that bringing him back is the right thing to do…it's your call." Derek smiled.

"Okay, I'll call Bleed up tomorrow and let him know that he's back in the band." Derek said happily. Burger and Ash hesitated before letting out a weak cheer. They weren't thrilled that Bleed was coming back, but with his return, they were going to make sure that they kept a close eye on him.

**A/N: Keep going? I'm not quite sure where it's going, but I'm glad I got to get more Derek/Bleed in there.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to "I'm in the Band". This chapter is really just a random exerpt.**

The next morning, Derek's eyes slowly fluttered open at the sound of clamoring from the kitchen. He shut his eyes tight and groaned as he stretched out his arms. He sighed and rolled out of bed and saw that the two bunks above his were empty. Derek sleepily shuffled out of the bedroom out into the hall towards the kitchen.

"Ash! Stop using all the maple syrup!" Tripp yelled as Ash had already poured nearly half a bottle of syrup on his pancakes. Tripp tried yanking the bottle out of his hands only sending the bottle across the room, getting syrup all over Burger in the process.

"Guys!" Burger yelled. "Great, now I'm all sticky!" Burger complained as he wiped some of the sugary substance off and licked his fingers clean. "Mmmm. Still tastes good, though."

Derek walked into the room and picked up the syrup with a smile.

"I love pancake Saturday!" Derek said heading over to the counter to fix himself a plate.

"Who doesn't?" Ash asked sitting down and taking a bite of his pancakes. After Derek got his food on his plate, he opened the fridge and looked around.

"Hey, I thought we had whipped cream in here. Where'd it go?" Derek asked looking at the guys.

Ash and Burger slowly looked at each other.

"No idea."

"We didn't eat it all yesterday night while you were out."

They answered simulatneously. Burger gave a quick look at Ash. Ash shrugged. Tripp shuddered at a rather disturbing thought.

"I don't want to know." Tripp said as he sat down at the table. Derek shrugged and pulled out the chocolate syrup and sat down. The guys began eating as Derek poured the remaining chocolate syrup on his pancakes.

"So, kid. When did you say your mum was coming back home?" Derek asked.

"Um, she said she'll be back from her yoga retreat in Lunai sometime next week." Tripp replied.

"Why is it that your mom is always gone? Hasn't she learned by now that we're very distructive and are the least responsible people she could ever know?" Ash asked. Everyone gave him a very strange look. Ash looked around the table at the confused faces. "What?"

"Yeah, little man! I mean, why doesn't Beth take us with her on these trips?" Burger asked.

"Maybe because she doesn't want to have to babysit three immature, grown men while she's on vacation." Tripp explained.

"Not only that, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't want us 'immature men' to see her tan on the beach in a rather revealing bikini." Derek smirked at the image he just put in his mind. Burger growled.

"Don't talk about her like that." Burger warned. Derek chuckled.

"What? Who else at this table is picturing Beth in a small bikin top?" Derek asked. Tripp looked disgusted.

"I'm not! She's my mom!" Tripp yelled.

"Yeah! I'm not thinking of Beth either!" Ash yelled, too. "I'm trying to picture what Burger would look like tanning on the beach in a rather revealing bikini." Ash confessed somehow not finding that the other guys seemed disturbed by his statement.

"Dude..." Burger said shaking his head, "...that's just wrong." Ash hung his head in shame and munched some more on his breakfast.


End file.
